


You’ve Never Flown With Me

by cptxrogers



Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, hug and fly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8002213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/pseuds/cptxrogers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve felt a smile on his lips as he rolled his eyes at Tony's faux outrage. “Flying's all right. The view's nice. But being stuck inside a plane is...” he searched for the right word, “restricting. I don't think I'd call it fun.”</p><p>Tony's eyes were bright and playful. “That's because you've never flown with me.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	You’ve Never Flown With Me

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this work is borrowed from a Green Lantern comic, of all things (Secret Files & Origins, 2005).

After a long recon mission and an even longer SHIELD debriefing, Steve was relieved to see Tony's driver Happy pull up in front of the team in a ridiculously luxurious Bentley. He felt immediately guilty about the unnecessary expenditure - he could have walked, after all - but he couldn't deny the appeal of collapsing into the back of the car and being driven home.

“Traffic's bad today, boss, even by New York standards. Afraid it's gonna be a while till I can get you all back to the Tower.”

Tony grumbled something about how SHIELD really ought to allow him access to the Quinjet for personal use as he had designed half the systems on it, and flying was really the only acceptable way to get around the city any more.

Steve shushed Tony and did his best to smile brightly at Happy and assure him it was no problem, and he didn't really fancy spending any more time in the Quinjet today anyway. He mentioned that, between the two of them, he thought flying was rather overrated.

Tony whipped his head round at that. “ _What_? Steven Grant Rogers, you did not just say that flying, something that humans the world over dream about every day, and which happens to be one of my many personal superpowers, is _overrated_? I'm feeling so disrespected right now.”

Steve felt a smile on his lips as he rolled his eyes at Tony's faux outrage. “Flying's all right. The view's nice. But being stuck inside a plane is...” he searched for the right word, “restricting. I don't think I'd call it fun.”

Tony's eyes were bright and playful. “That's because you've never flown with me.”

 

* * *

 

They finally made it back to the tower and Steve had collapsed onto the nearest sofa, still in his uniform. The rest of the team had retreated to their rooms and Steve was summoning up the energy to carry himself to the shower when Tony approached him, clanking through the living room in his armor.

“Come on, Cap, you look like you could use a change of perspective.” Tony held out a gauntleted hand. “Let me prove you wrong about the wonders of flying. Fly with me.”

Steve scrabbled to think of excuses not to do something so self-indulgent, but really, who could refuse an offer like that? He felt his heart beat a little faster as took Tony's hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Tony led Steve out to the Tower's landing pad, and if he was still holding Steve's gloved hand in his own for the short walk, then Steve wasn't going to mention it.

When they reached the center of the round landing pad, Tony turned to face Steve. With the faceplate up, Steve could see the slightly wild glint in Tony's eye which he recognized from when Tony had one of his brilliant ideas. Those generally ended in either soaring triumph or crushing disaster.

“You'll have to hold on tight. I know you're stronger than most people, but it gets rough up there with the air currents, and even you can't fight gravity.”

Steve reflected that accidentally falling from hundreds of feet in the air because he'd been distracted by the particular shade of blue of Tony's eyes was going to be embarrassing, and resolved to follow Tony's advice and cling on tight. 

“Aww, Shellhead, I know you'd catch me if I fell,” he said. He had been going for playful, but the way that Tony's eyes crinkled around the edges suggested he might have strayed into overly sentimental territory.

Steve stepped forward and put an arm round Tony's shoulders, broad and high in the suit, and Tony slid a supporting arm around his waist.

“Ready?” Tony asked, their faces closer and their bodies closer, and from here Steve could see the flecks of mottled gray and ocean blue in his eyes, and...

God damn it, Rogers, pull yourself together. “Ready,” he'd said, his voice waving just a little with excitement. Or perhaps it was nervousness. Or perhaps, considered how he was pressed up again Tony, something else.

“Then let's go. Jarvis, I'm doing this one old school. Give me full manual control.” Steve saw Tony's eyes twinkling before the faceplate slide closed and the arm around his waist squeezed a little tighter. Steve felt a shudder as Tony's boot repulsors kicked in and lifted them slowly from the ground.

Steve just had time to adjust to the feeling of hovering a few feet in midair before he heard Tony's voice, distorted through the helmet but very close to his ear. “Hang on, Cap, and let's blow this popsicle stand.”

They rocketed straight up into the air, the landing pad falling away beneath them as they climbed. When they reached an altitude from which they could see the whole city below, Tony paused for a second, before spinning around and shooting them forward towards the edge of the sprawling metropolis.

Steve clung on tighter and he craned his neck around to see the lights of the city whizzing past them, gasping as Tony pulled into a loop maneuver that almost left him breathless as they sped onward.

Racing through the air, with the soft thrum of Tony's armor beneath him and the wind whipping across his face, Steve felt a sense of freedom and possibility that he didn't even realize he had been missing. Here, he didn't have to be strong and to keep his emotions in check. There was no one who needed to be saved and no greater good for him to be doing. There was, for a while, just him, and Tony, and the open sky.

He felt Tony's fingers flex against his waist in warning as he pulled them into a barrel roll; the ground spinning wildly beneath and above them as they corkscrewed through the air. Steve's head was reeling, but he couldn't help letting out a whoop of joy as Tony pulled them out of the roll and slingshotted upwards once more.

They sped up further into the sky, city lights swirling below them and stars twinkling above. Tony floated to a stop high in the air and hovered, both of them looking down over the hum of life far below. Tony's faceplate rose with a faint hiss. “Quite the view from up here, huh?”

Steve pushed back his cowl to admire the view, his tousled hair sticking up wildly and his cheeks flushed with excitement. “You can say that again,” he beamed.

“I like to fly out and take a look at the city once in a while. When everything gets a bit... much, when I can't quite... deal with everyone's expectations, I fly up here and just look. It makes me feel small, but more connected somehow. It's nice, you know? Feeling like you're part of something that's bigger than you.”

Steve resisted the urge to tease Tony when he noticed how unusually pensive he looked. For once there was no performance, none of his carefully executed charm or even more carefully executed flippancy. He looked older than usual, and more tired, and Steve thought he had never seen anyone so beautiful.

“So,” Tony said turning his face towards Steve's with a shy smile, “did I change your mind about the wonders of flying?”

Without thinking about it, Steve leaned in and kissed him. Steve's face was smooshed up against the edge of the armor and Tony's goatee tickled at his nose, but Tony's lips were soft and warm against his as they parted with a soft “Oh”.

They hung together suspended in the air for a second, then the faint whine of the repulsors abruptly ceased and suddenly they were dropping like a stone, the ground rushing up towards them.

“Tony!” Steve squawked, throwing both arms around his neck as they plummeted. “Your boots!”

Tony shook his head as if to clear it and the boots kicked back into life, slowing their descent until they were hovering again.

As they leveled out, through the opening in the face of the helmet Tony was blushing a shade of red that almost matched his armor. “Shit, sorry, my fault, I really should have been paying attention, best to keep focused when you're hundreds of feet up in the air, that's just flying 101 really, so yeah, sorry, but that was, umm, I was distracted, I mean, you, you _kissed me_.”

“Well that's true, I did distract you with my nefarious kissing. So I guess that one's partly on me.” Steve gave him a fond look. “But don't worry about it. I told you already: I know that if I fall, you'd catch me.”

Tony blinked at him slowly and his eyes narrowed like Steve was an unexpected puzzle he was trying to figure out. “Would you like to, umm, try that again?” he finally asked, eyes flickering to the side and looking, for a moment, honestly bashful.

“What, the falling through the air?” Steve teased with a laugh. “Not really. The kissing though, I could do with more of that.”

Tony looked at him with an expression of amazement, before breaking into a warm, genuine smile. “Right. Good. More kissing, excellent. I'm thinking it might be for the best if we wait until we've landed though, I'm not entirely one hundred percent sure I can operate the suit with you... there... distracting me. Frankly I think you might a menace to both of our safety.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Steve said with a playful swat at Tony's shoulder. “Home then?”

“Home,” Tony agreed, the faceplate of the armor sliding back down as he gently turned them around to head back towards the city.

Steve leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to the cool metal of the faceplate.

Tony's laugh was recognizable even through the voice modulation. “Don't start any funny business on the way back, Rogers, or I'll drop you.”

“Eh, been there, done that,” Steve said with a grin, keeping both his arms around Tony's neck as they sped back towards the Tower. “You were right, by the way.”

“Often am,” Tony quipped quickly. “About what in particular?” 

Steve felt himself blushing a little as he snuggled closer to Tony. "It turns out I do rather like flying after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this fluff keeps you happy during these sad times for canon Steve and Tony!
> 
> You can find me over [here](http://cptxrogers.tumblr.com) on tumblr, and this fic is also posted [here](http://cptxrogers.tumblr.com/post/150222529016/youve-never-flown-with-me).


End file.
